Field of Science

You're all wet

There's a lot of stuff out there that TPP doesn't think about very much if at all. But every now and again something gives you pause, and so it's a very good question to ask, "Why does wet feel wet?"  You would think a long time rain forest biologist would have thought about this, but no. TPP can say that you just don't know wet until you've done rain forest work, but just the other morning, as the Phactors were leaving their house, the exceptional dampness from a night of rain and lingering misty fog, combined with a warmish temperature, particularly for October, together with the smell of wet vegetation and decaying leaves, gave us both the same sensation; it smelled and felt like early morning in a Costa Rican rain forest. At any rate, here's something thoughtful from Discovery magazine on why wet things feel wet. Next week they'll explains why wet dogs smell like wet dogs.

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